GQ playlist: Gareth Emery

‘Drive’ is finally out, but we have another surprise from this EDM maestro

Teaching himself to play the piano from the age of 4, to playing guitar in an indie band at 15, Gareth Emery’s eventual conversion to electronic music was always going to be a successful one. Some of his tracks like ‘Sanctuary’ and ‘Concrete Angel’ have gone on to become dance music anthems. But it had been four years since Emery released a full-length album.

After locking himself away for most of 2013, Emery’s new album is finally out. We catch up with him and talk about collaborations, tours and everything you wanted to know about ‘Drive’.

We know the sounds that won’t feature in your new album, but can you tell us which will and the artists you will be collaborating with? For me, it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. It’s that classic Gareth Emery sound with a modern twist. I’ve got an amazing bunch of collaborators working on the record with me as well as Bo Bruce who sung the first single ‘U’. There’s Krewella who are some of the nicest most talented people ever, my sister Roxanne Emery sings on a track (she also co-wrote a few of them), plus of course there’s a follow up to Concrete Angel with Christina Novelli. Other than that, I’ve got some great vocalists who’ve never sung on dance music tracks before. I guess I’ve always been about finding people who are new to this world rather than the voices we’ve heard many times. One guy we found on YouTube singing covers in his bedroom – he currently works in a shop full-time I have a feeling he won’t be there for that long, he’s incredible.

You’re on tour at festivals and gigs so often. How long has it taken you to put this album together? About 18 months in total. The earliest tracks I started in mid-2012, but the vast majority was written at some point in 2013, usually on a plane! Then as the deadline approached, I rented a big studio in Los Angeles for two months to really knuckle down to get the record finished, work on the mix, and make the final tweaks. It was a long process!

Has any artist caught your attention lately? There are some amazing groups out that I’ve been really enjoying: London Grammar and Chvrches to name a few, and on the DJ side I love Hot Since 82 right now – amazing progressive.

Highlights of 2013, and plans for 2014? 2013 was an incredible year, so it’s hard to pick one – from amazing festivals like EDC, Creamfields, Global Gathering, SW4 to doing over one hundred incredible shows across the world in some amazing places… I’m pretty lucky. My last tour of India where every show sold out was pretty special. The biggest highlight of the year however was driving from New York to Los Angeles with my wife at the start of the year – old motels, Route 66, ghost towns, it was a pretty inspirational journey and the inspiration for a lot of my new album.

Strangest request at the DJ Booth?

Last year a guy asked if I could stop the music at the end so he could propose to his girlfriend in the front row. I obliged, he did it, and she said yes. Result!